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On Sat 18 (Sharon Golub) wrote: > I am looking for medically and scientifically sophisticated review articles > describing research pertaining to the use of antioxidants in theprevention and > treatment of Parkinson's Disease. Suggestions as to specific articles and/or > other sources of information would be most welcome. > > > Hello Sharon, I am not able to give you references, but I do want to warn you that you need to read as many recently-published reports as you can, because of the strange history of Selegeline over the past 5 to 8 years. It came into fashion as an insurance against the designer-drug MPTP. Then it was realised that it was a powerful antioxidant and would be a good thing for taking care of Free Radicals, another speculative 'maybe' cause of depletion of dopamine-producing cells. There followed a string of scientific papers which more or less extoled the virtues of Selegeline as if it was the latest and greatest wonder drug. Then a back-lash crept in. An English paper claimed that in a statistical test of Sinemet taken with Selegiline there was an unexpected increase in the mortality rate. Other groups tried to reproduce the result and failed, and although some incorrect practices were discovered, the anomally would not go away. The final nail in the coffin came when the same researchers who had reported the fantastic results from selegeline (some reports claimed that it virtually stopped the deterioration) now found that comparing groups who did to those who did not take Selegiline, there was virtually no difference in the two groups. They now think that the improvement reported by the early reports was because as Selegiline breaks down in the brain, it produces Amphetamine (speed). which was affecting their brain: They just felt better! Regards, -- Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>